City O.K.'s stadium area development, environmental groups still skeptical
In a few years, USC may have a new neighbor on South Assembly Street — a 5.6-acre Walmart shopping center.
In a 6-to-1 vote, City Council officially decided to sell the Capitol City Baseball stadium area, currently home to the Columbia Blowfish, to an Atlanta developer for $1 million. While no one has confirmed that a Walmart will be built there, the developer’s ties to the corporation and the latest urban push by Wal-Mart Inc. indicate the site will be home to the city’s first downtown supercenter. Last year Bill Simon, president and CEO of Wal-Mart Inc., announced the company would be opening dozens of new stores across South Carolina, touting that the move would create over 4,000 jobs in the state.
City Council made the decision after hearing from representatives of AMEC Environment & Infrastructure that the construction would not worsen flooding in the Rocky Branch floodplain, where the stadium currently sits. AMEC was hired by the city in January to analyze the building’s potential impact on Rocky Branch in order to ease dissent from Columbia residents and local environmental groups who claimed the project would exacerbate flooding and pollution in the already urbanized Rocky Branch Creek. The creek runs through Five Points, USC and Olympia before emptying into the Congaree River, and it is a frequent source of flooding.
“It is possible to build in a way that will be invisible to the system, but you need smart site development,” AMEC representative Andrew Reese said at a public Q-and-A session Wednesday. “It will largely be up to the developer whether this is done precisely.”
AMEC suggested that the development could actually benefit the area by working with the Rocky Branch Watershed Alliance to fund creek restoration and Greenway development projects.
Nonetheless, members of the alliance remain skeptical. The group’s chairman, USC earth and water sciences professor Venkat Lakshmi, says that even if flooding at the building site is unaffected, which he doubts, the study still misses the big picture. Lakshmi pointed out that Five Points will still get the worst of the flooding, referring to the most recent flash flood in September of 2011, when a particularly unrelenting rainstorm caused creek overflow that submerged cars and damaged buildings.
“I think we’re not doing a full-body scan,” Lakshmi said. “A Walmart is only part of the problem. Rocky Branch Creek will still flood. We need a more holistic approach, not just patch-ups at one site. The study also did not address any pollution concerns.”
Executive Director of Sustainable Midlands Ryan Nevius, who co-founded the Rocky Branch Watershed Alliance, said she was disappointed that the city did not allow time for the public to digest the study results before making an official decision. When City Council held a public presentation of AMEC’s study results, Nevius said the alliance actually advised most residents not to attend, as she knew the discussion would be technical without any mention of policy changes.
“We knew a lot of people’s questions wouldn’t be answered,” Nevius said. “The city did not provide them with that opportunity.”
The decision has been made, but no contract has been signed yet by City Manager Steve Gantt. Following the vote, amendments were added to the contract that would place tight city regulations on the development plans. These ensure the developer abides by AMEC’s building recommendations. The developer has six months to gain approval from city planning and zoning, FEMA, the Army Engineering Corps and others before any changes to the stadium can be made.
Whether or not the developer will follow suggested “green infrastructure” regulations remains as uncertain as when construction will begin. One thing is certain ------— efforts to revitalize Rocky Branch Creek will continue with or without a Walmart.
“It’s not over,” Nevius said. “This story is just beginning.”